Holder Calls for Dignified Discussion on Zimmerman Verdict

By Devlin Barrett

A man holds a cardboard cutout of during a demonstration in New York on July 14, 2013.

AFP/Getty Images

Attorney General Eric Holder, in his first public comments about the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, called for a dignified discussion of the issues surrounding the case, and a better effort to combat the “mistaken beliefs and stereotypes that serve as the basis for these too common incidents.’’

Mr. Holder’s remarks on the case came during a previously scheduled speech in Washington before the Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s convention.

Mr. Holder, in a written version of his remarks, gave no indication whether he thought the federal probe of Mr. Zimmerman would result in new charges, but said “this tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly about the complicated and emotionally-charged issues that this case has raised. We must not – as we have too often in the past – let this opportunity pass.’’

The shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin by Mr. Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., has prompted angry debates about gun laws and race – Mr. Martin was black, Mr. Zimmerman is Hispanic. Even as he called for a national discussion of tough issues, Mr. Holder didn’t explicitly mention race or guns in his comments Monday. He is due to speak to the NAACP on Tuesday in Orlando, where he will more fully address the case.

He called on the country to work together “to prevent future tragedies and to deal with the underlying attitudes, mistaken beliefs and stereotypes that serve as the basis for these too common incidents.’’

He urged a national discussion to be conducted “with the same dignity that those who have lost the most, Trayvon’s parents, have demonstrated throughout the last year,’’ he said. The Justice Department, he said, “will continue to act in a manner that is consistent with the facts and the law.’’

Legal experts have said it will be difficult to build a winnable case against Mr. Zimmerman, given the legal thresholds in federal civil rights and hate crimes laws. The Department, Mr. Holder said, will “address community concerns and promote healing… We will never stop working to ensure that — in every case, in every circumstance, and in every community — justice must be done.’’